Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Fis still doesn't know how to doba stage race pursuit,

There should never be any stage race pursuits. No matter if you base it on the overall GC or a single stage, it punishes the ones being in the lead and it’s too random for my taste when it comes to who gets luck with a good group.

 

[BigCoward]

There should never be any stage race pursuits. No matter if you base it on the overall GC or a single stage, it punishes the ones being in the lead and it’s too random for my taste when it comes to who gets luck with a good group.

It didnt today, the leaders extended their lead significantly.
Better than a mass start though.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Better than a mass start though.

It’s better value for us sitting at home in the sofa definitively. The men’s race today was pretty epic with a lot of action and changes underway and was great TV.

But a mass start has much more fair sporting value as a part of the tour in my eyes. Punishing the athletes that did well yesterday doesn’t sit right with me. If today was a mass start we would’ve seen a group ride among the men’s, Klæbo would probably win and Amundsen would lose a couple of seconds but Amundsen wouldn’t lose all the advantage he gained yesterday.

With 7 stages in the Tour I would’ve liked to seen 2 interval starts, 2 “normal” masstarts, 2 sprints and Alpe Cermis. Replacing today with another interval start would’ve been much better imo (and even a mass start would’ve been also better from a sporting point of view).

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

It didnt today, the leaders extended their lead significantly.

Well, that was not the case in the men’s race.

In the women’s race the leaders extended their lead yes, but also partly because the random factor of groupings in chasing start, meaning that Johaug and Slind could go alone all the way while the chasers Niskanen and Carl both had to do the entire 15 km alone.

 

[Mayomaniac]

There should never be any stage race pursuits. No matter if you base it on the overall GC or a single stage, it punishes the ones being in the lead and it’s too random for my taste when it comes to who gets luck with a good group.

Nah, if you make a pursuit based yesterday's stage result and only count the time at the finish line vs effective skiing time for the gc the leader still gets the advantage of having a headstart. That or a full blown gc pursuit are imo both better options.
Look at the men's race today, Amundsen finishes 5 sec ahead of Klaebo, so he gains 5sec on him and so on...

Short Mass start are useless, sprinter friendly races that don't add a lot, proper skiathlons and a 50km on a hard course being the exception.
Also, a Prologue and only 1 sprint would make the Tour fairer. This year is already more of balanced route with some real distance races, that makes Anger's performance on the last 2 stages even more impressive, but still too many gifted seconds for sprinters.

A Prologue with 10, 6 and 4 sec bonus for the podium in addition to the times and only one sprint with the current set of bonus seconds later on and the route with the weird Alpe Cermis mass start is actually balanced.

 

[Miss Violet Smith]

What a pity Amundsen got sick.

Let's see if Anger can hang onto Klaebo in Val di Fiemme. Lapalus, Vermeulen or a non-Klaebo Norwegian might also have a really good day on Sunday.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Men's race just got even more boring, now we need Anger to channel his inner Ustiugov on Alpe Cermis.

 

[BullsFan22]

Anger is built like an absolute tank. He’s gotta be close to 2 meters. Ustiugov is 185, 186, but he made it work on the Cermis, with one title and 3 other podiums. Anger, I fear, is a little too big for that slope. If he can get into the final and stay close in the skiathlon, he may have a chance to stay on the podium, but a win is asking too much.

Shame about Amundsen.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Anger is built like an absolute tank. He’s gotta be close to 2 meters. Ustiugov is 185, 186, but he made it work on the Cermis, with one title and 3 other podiums. Anger, I fear, is a little too big for that slope. If he can get into the final and stay close in the skiathlon, he may have a chance to stay on the podium, but a win is asking too much.

Shame about Amundsen.

Anger is just a bit over 190cm tall, but that farmboy is built like a tank. Huge shoulders, arms and torso.

 

[OJRvE]

I doubt Anger even gonna be competive in the Val di Fiemme skiathlon. Looking at the map the new course is a very tough with more climbing than Lillehammer. Toblach on the other hand is a place where Anger did great already two years ago in the relay.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I doubt Anger even gonna be competive in the Val di Fiemme skiathlon. Looking at the map the new course is a very tough with more climbing than Lillehammer. Toblach on the other hand is a place where Anger did great already two years ago in the relay.

Yeah, but that relay also took place in fast conditions, on the easier lap that they used in the mass start this year. Between the last 2 races in Toblach and the 20kms in Davos Anger seems to be in the shape of his life.

Curious to see the new laps in Val di Fiemme.

 

[BigCoward]

Johaug losing less tham a second to Diggins. Weird.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

More time available in bonuses today than the spread of the top 10 in the 20km individual start.

If FIS were in charge of cycling, Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews and Edvald Boasson Hagen would be battling out the Grand Tours.

 

[BullsFan22]

Laukli channeling her inner Robbie McEwen and taking this prologue very seriously.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Meanwhile Vermeulen channeled his inner Val di Fiemme Sundby in the prologue.

Apparently Diggins has problems with her heels and pain, mainly in classic skiing. According to Swiss TV she looked like she wanted to quit during the Prologue.

 

[BullsFan22]

Meanwhile Vermeulen channeled his inner Val di Fiemme Sundby in the prologue.

Apparently Diggins has problems with her heels and pain, mainly in classic skiing. According to Swiss TV she looked like she wanted to quit during the Prologue.

So how is she going to deal with the skiathlon tomorrow?

 

[Mayomaniac]

So how is she going to deal with the skiathlon tomorrow?

No idea.
Sorry to sound like a broken clock, but Kerttu's diagonal stride looks awful.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Looks like Cassol's skis were all grip, no gliding.

 

[BigCoward]

Heidi Weng out there sprinting like its 2014.
Edit, i now know that actually 15/16/17 were more her peak years.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Heidi Weng out there sprinting like its 2014.

Divebombing the downhill out of nowhere and not wearing 3 tubluar scarfs, a face mask and a hijab despite no sunshine and lower temperatures? What is happening to her?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Mythical Heidi Weng sprint podium!
Vintage Weng, celebrating more than the winner.

 

[YavorD]

Mythical Heidi Weng sprint podium!
Vintage Weng, celebrating more than the winner.

I've never seen someone celebrating 3rd so much.

 

[OJRvE]

To me it looked like Klaebo stepped on Pellegrino skis while passing causing Pellegrino to lose all speed.

 

[BullsFan22]

To me it looked like Klaebo stepped on Pellegrino skis while passing causing Pellegrino to lose all speed.

Klæbo gamesmanship? Shocking!

 

[YavorD]

More time available in bonuses today than the spread of the top 10 in the 20km individual start.

If FIS were in charge of cycling, Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews and Edvald Boasson Hagen would be battling out the Grand Tours.

That's not the right comparison you make.
Top 10 in the mass start were separated by 1 minute. Top 10 in the sprint by less than 30 seconds.

Also, how would you change to bonus system in sprints?
You can't give time bonuses only for the first 3 as you punish the others making them do an extra effort for nothing. And you should somehow reward everyone who passed the qualification as they still do an extra effort

Also, you're other comparison is way out of line. None of the 3 you mentioned is even top 50 on the hard mountain stages. In comparison to the likes Diggins and Klaebo, they are comfortably top 10 and actual favourites for some distance races.
Valverde, if you ask me, is decent comparison to both and he podiumed all the GTs and won one.


If we compare distance races to hard GC stages and sprints to TTs, in cycling you don't see the likes of Mas or Cancellara dominate GC's, you're looking for all-rounders (or rarely extremely gifted climbers) the same goes to TdS. You don't get the likes of Pellegrino or Holund dominate, you get all-rounders (Diggins, Klaebo, Boergen, Bolshunov, Cologna...) and rarely extremely gifted distance skiers (like Bauer and Johaug) win.
I mean, all the bad things aside, Peter Northug was really all-around skier and he won only one TdS.


When I think about it, the biggest problem aren't the big sprint bonuses, but the presence of 2 mass starts and one pursuit instead of one more 15-20 km individual race.